Tvind Alert
One World Volunteer Institute
See also: Norway
Also known as The Travelling High School, Lillehammer and Den Reisende Høgskole, this 'hotel' high up in the Norwegian Alps, half an hour by bus from the nearest town - The One World Volunteer Institute - is Tvind's isolated northern outpost. Volunteers from all over the place 'train' here, spending much of their time selling postcards on the streets of Oslo and Stockholm. This is also the venue for Tvind skiing contests and 'winter Olympics'.
We have lots of reports of people who have had unhappy experiences here. Many have asked questions about what happened to the money they raised - not all were satisfied with the replies
One World
Volunteer Institute,
Hornsjø, 2636 Øyer
NORWAY
Headmaster: Gert Magnar Olsen
Owners: Felleseie
True stories
See: the stories
Jostein's story
Jostein Alvestad is a Norwegian, now living in the USA, who joined the
Teachers Group and became close to the centre of power in
Tvind. 'It took me two years to be able to write this. I haven't been able to
deal with all the emotions since I drove off the hill at IICD, Williamstown in
the summer of 1998. I just did not want to talk about it or think
about it.....I denied I had been in a cult or
had in any form been "brainwashed". I know better now - after a little time and
distance,' he wrote
João's story.
'Resisting brainwashing'. Joao, from Portugal, joined
Humana as a student in Norway and later a volunteer in Zambia. He
describes his experiences (in English)
Kine's story
The story of a 24 year old man from Norway sent to a Tvind school in Denmark
Hanne's story Hanne Marit
Otterbech, 23, of Stavanger, Norway, is another unhappy ex-student.
In 1992, she went to a Norwegian Court after having been with the Tvind school
at Hornsjo near Lillehammer, claiming the stay had caused her serious damage to her
health. Some 20 other ex-students backed Hanne Marit in court, testifying that the
schools broke down students psychologically. She lost the case, but because of great
doubt the school was ordered to pay all expenses. This is a very rare ruling in
Norwegian courts.
[Source: Leiv Gunnar Lie]
Jodie's story IICD Michigan & One World Institute, 2000
Reports
UFF lost Norwegian government funding as early as 1981.....Norwegian authorities cut its 2 million NKr (£200,000) yearly grant to the Travelling High School at Hornsjo near
Lillehammer in 1983.... the Norwegian government has banned them from running major courses at their
hotel near Lillehammer
[Source: Leiv Gunnar Lie]
Similar bans [on UFF clothes collection
boxes] are In force In the Norwegian cities of
Oslo and Bergen and the Norwegian government has stopped funding the Travelling
High School, a branch of the Tvind movement.
[Source: The Guardian, 1993]
Flere
Visne blomster - en kritisk antologi om Tvind (More
Dying Flowers - A Critical Anthology About Tvind)
by 21 former
Tvind teachers (1980, 285pp) (in Norwegian)
Not a One World Partner
Tvind's One World Volunteer Institute should not to be
confused with:
OneWorld International (oneworld.org and oneworld.net),
a UK-based environmental and development charity.
Tvind websites have frequently included links to OneWorld International in a way that could suggest a close connection; their Internet addresses are similar. The genuine One World Partnership has expelled Tvind's 'One World Institute' from its partnership of websites, and asked it to remove the claims.
Travelling High School in Halden, southeast of Oslo (to 1983)
The Norwegian Department of Education (KUD) withdrew the Travelling High School's license in 1982-3. Jens Oen of KUD told Danish television there were several reasons why: "The teaching was not good enough and the security - both physically, when travelling, and economic security - was not good enough." In the course of two years, Norwegian embassies had reported 62 incidents of Tvind students travelling abroad, needing some kind of help. [Source: Leiv Gunnar Lie]